The Perfect Sound
I was listening to Tift Merritt on the way to work again this morning; this time it was Bramble Rose, her first album. Not as good as Tambourine now I've heard that, but still bloody good.
There's one track, "Bird of Freedom," comes close to having my perfect sound. The perfect sound started for me around the time I heard "I Want You" on Blonde on Blonde. It's a combination of instruments I like, and every record purchase is a search for this perfection. Ultimately, it's never quite going to be all in one place. It's "out there" like Fox Mulder's truth, impossible to define, always tantalisingly beyond reach. You can't achieve it by prescription, because the sound itself is as much about the pauses between notes and hits, the space given to the song by the musicians. And the song itself, natch, must be of the highest quality.
But we're not talking about lyrics here.
The quintessential sound lies somewhere between "Bird of Freedom," and perhaps "Baby Dreamer" on Allison Moorer's The Duel (which, incidentally, does not star Dennis Weaver).)
While "Baby Dreamer" features drums, bass, electric & acoustic guitar, piano, and a female vocal, which suits my 40-something year old ears; "Bird of Freedom" in its verses is a stripped down arrangement with the rhythm section and two acoustic guitars, plus gently played piano pads. The piano then lifts at the end of each verse, with fills that are kind of country/southern rock/exile on main street style. Then in the chorus, some clever slide guitar comes into the mix, which sometimes sounds a little like a B-bender, a telecaster made to sound like a pedal steel, but can still sound in places more like classic southern rock slide guitar. And again with the female vocal.
It sounds fab, anyway, like something off Exile without Jagger on vocals.
There's one track, "Bird of Freedom," comes close to having my perfect sound. The perfect sound started for me around the time I heard "I Want You" on Blonde on Blonde. It's a combination of instruments I like, and every record purchase is a search for this perfection. Ultimately, it's never quite going to be all in one place. It's "out there" like Fox Mulder's truth, impossible to define, always tantalisingly beyond reach. You can't achieve it by prescription, because the sound itself is as much about the pauses between notes and hits, the space given to the song by the musicians. And the song itself, natch, must be of the highest quality.
But we're not talking about lyrics here.
The quintessential sound lies somewhere between "Bird of Freedom," and perhaps "Baby Dreamer" on Allison Moorer's The Duel (which, incidentally, does not star Dennis Weaver).)
While "Baby Dreamer" features drums, bass, electric & acoustic guitar, piano, and a female vocal, which suits my 40-something year old ears; "Bird of Freedom" in its verses is a stripped down arrangement with the rhythm section and two acoustic guitars, plus gently played piano pads. The piano then lifts at the end of each verse, with fills that are kind of country/southern rock/exile on main street style. Then in the chorus, some clever slide guitar comes into the mix, which sometimes sounds a little like a B-bender, a telecaster made to sound like a pedal steel, but can still sound in places more like classic southern rock slide guitar. And again with the female vocal.
It sounds fab, anyway, like something off Exile without Jagger on vocals.
posted by Anonymous at
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
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